Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1887-10-11
yANpERBILr ANp THE CATS.
tn. Listener. In no.,oa rnnserlp,)

THE Listener. In bost"a Innsefiptl
The Listener has . nss story 81 Com
modore Vanderbilt. which s"'~ss To him
from . source - likely 10 he authentic
that he cannot doab, II. Tie eommo-
dore, a. mos, people know. did not 'shs
very kindly TO removing from Staten
Island to New York city when bis Affairs
began 10 prosper. bu, ". compelled 10
do 90 10 order TO b. near bis business
n. boueh, . house ss, In the ou'skiri.
Of the city. where be thought be could
BE- In comparative quiet lie found .
comfortable place close by graveyard,
With no, many houses about him. and
settled down.
The 6r, night he 'psh' In the res
place was a terrible revelation 10 him
Instead Of the Absolutely quls, surround
ires 81 bis island home. be hsd m Amos.
pksre vocal with the yells Of What seemed
10 be . thousand cats The nsisnbot.
hood mus, have been. he ~ss c'.''irced'
. fs,ori,s resort for Ill the cats In the
city. They rsndsrvoussd Ia the grave.
yard. and aOek,d on bis back fence. and
peiehed on hi. ,ksd iosf. and ea'sf~sul,d
msdly all nigh, long. lie 'lsPt scarcely
five minutes 81 . time. The neat night
the same psriOrnsree ". repeated, aud
the next. Instead Of getting used to u.
the commodore was gs,iitg more and
more nervou, and slsp, le" md les.
The wear aud tear began TO tell on him.
Vanderbilt had hi. boots blsehsd every
morning By . lad who had stationed biz
boz no, far away. making an arrange
msnt with tie boy In order to get the
shine reasonably cheap. one morning
he 81, down In the boys chair 9TH such
q weary air ard with so hssgard . look
on his face that the boy asked 'ympa.
tke,ieally;
"wo,'s de matter. eas,Om,rl'
The commodore. for van, u . better
eonfd.n,. opened HI. heart to the boot.
black and told him the narrowing tale OF
the ca,s.
"wot1l yer give me. boss" 'sid the
boy. III III clean out oil de cats for yer ?
"whst'll | give yOu' Why. Ill give
you q dollar apiece for every CO, you kill
IN my yard" said the commodore.
"Ali right. customer" said the boot
black. "I'll be there tonight
Th., nigh, the commodore 'lsp, a. he
had no, .lsp, since b, LEI, Staten Island
lie woke In the morning With the de-
lishlfal sense Of having slept only about
fifteen minutes. and ye, knowing that be
had ,l,p, .oundly ell night. When be
~,n, 90, be found the boo,blsek 'it,ins
on the from, step.
How'd you sleep. boss .'ssd IN
boy. 49,, -.
"splendidly. young man. 'pl,ndidly.
"beAr any cats >
mot cat. How much do ! owe
you"
Come round In the back yard an
veil ,ee." said the boy.
They wen, around to the back yard
There ~sie two roash.looking Youngsters
sitting on the fence. and on the ground
~. a pile q dead cats that made the
commodore turn pale.
"Fof heavens sake. how many cats
have you 20, there ," be g.'Ped.
wei t'row EN- over IN .nodsf pile.
bos.." sail the boo.blseh, IAN you kir
score EN- up"
The boy began to toss tho cats ovel
deliberately. and the commodore counted
until be bad go, up to hfy. Then he
called out;
"Hold on 4. Th.,'ll do. See here III
give you three fellows jus, Ave dollars
apiece. Thats big P'y for night
work"
"Csn'i do Il. bo.,." 'sid the bOo,blssk
1--WE made De Arangemen, wid desc gen
,lemen here. and de understanding IL
dollar spice Tor de cats.
"wsll. I ~on', give you bu, five dol
Lar. each ell around" said the eommo
dor.
lie pulled out The money and shook II
Ia their faces. but the boys refused iC
,.ksi, Finally they wiihdie~ IN silence
leaving the commodore. aroused and III
naiursd, Nth his cats. They formed .
resolve 10 "g,t even with him." and
made their plans accordingly.
Ths, night the commodore bad mol
been asleep very long before be VA
reused by the mos, unear,h,y eaisrssBl'
ing be had ever heard in his life. lie
woke with the impression that there ws'
. stack Of cats on tie foot Of bis bed
Then be fsneied they were 81 least on
the widow ell Of bis room Ba, pres
emily be became aware iha, they were
somewhere In the yard near bis window.
lie could stand IL no longer. and seizsd q
loaded pistol ,hs, Vas in bureau da~sr
and blsred away. one. Two. three shots,
at VIA, seemed to be the centre Of the
disturbance in the yard. Then be heard
q cry and . groan Of anguish from some
human being. lie dressed partially and
wen, Oh, into the yard. and found there.
wn,hing ia pain. the policeman on the
beat. with ball from the eotmodores
revolver In bis leg. lie also fOuLd .
large gunny bag Ia which VAS . wig.
Cling. plunsing ma. Of cats, ell Of them
bowling now With fury tdoubled by
the episode Of the shooting. The police
man was able to explain tina, be had seen
MIA, seemed to be Wild animal Of e1.
uaordinsry proportions. which made =
noise like = hundred cats, plunging around
on the eommtdores lawn. and had come
ovey to investigate; and no sooner had
he discovered that the objectws . big
sunny-bsg full Of cats. and had prepared
to release the animals. than the eommo.
dore had opened fire upon him from the
window, with disastrous effect.
The policeman sued Vanderbilt, fof
damages and the commodore bad to pay
him a thousand dollars to set,le-a fact
wkich became quite generally known.